Apple loses the snark, keeps it simple with new Samsung apology

The Apple logo is seen in this September 11, 2012 file photo at the Yerba Buena… (Kimihiro Hoshino / AFP /…)

Apple has rewritten a court-ordered notice on its UK website that makes it clear that Samsung did not copy Apple's patented tablet design.

The new notice is shorter than the original notice that Apple put up on the site last week.

It is also lacking the subtle snark of the last notice. And that's just what the British court wants.

What we'll call the "snarky notice" chapter of Apple and Samsung's patent battle began Oct. 18 when the high court justice of England told Apple it had to place a simple statement on its website laying out the court's ruling that Samsung had not copied Apple's patented tablet design, and place a similar notice in British newspapers.

Apple complied, but with a twist. The company did indeed lay out the British court's findings, but also added a few paragraphs from the ruling that said the court found Apple's design to be "cool" while Samsung's tablet design was not "cool."

Apple then went on to say that a German court found that Samsung did copy the iPad design. And that a U.S. jury found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design.

On Thursday, a British court gave Apple 24 hours to remove the statement from its website, and 48 hours to post a new one, the BBC reported.

"I'm at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this," Jacob said, according to the BBC. "It is a plain breach of the order."

The judge then ordered Apple to link to the new notice from its Web page.

So now, if you go to the British Apple site, you'll find this straightforward mea culpa from Apple at the bottom of the page:

"On 25 October 2012, Apple Inc. published a statement on its UK website in relation to Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers. That statement was inaccurate and did not comply with the order of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The correct statement is at Samsung/Apple UK judgement."

The majority of Tech Now readers will be pleased. In an admittedly unscientific poll at the top of our previous post on this story, 68% of our readers said Apple's original statement was disrespectful, while 32% said it was funny.